Illinois Recycling Education

The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) is seeking a vendor to develop and implement a comprehensive, statewide recycling education program through this Request for Proposal (RFP) with a ten-year contract term. The vendor must create a holistic solution consisting of a toolkit for each of Illinois's 102 counties, an interactive map, and a smartphone application to help residents properly identify and dispose of household waste. Key deliverables include conducting a statewide survey of recycling infrastructure across all counties and municipalities, developing customizable collection requirement and drop-off location databases for each municipality, providing pickup schedule calendars exportable to iOS and Android platforms, implementing camera-based image recognition technology for item identification, and delivering educational content through articles, blog posts, videos, and interactive quizzes. The solution must be accessible across multiple digital platforms including web browsers (Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, Safari) and mobile devices (iOS, Android, Windows), and must comply with the Illinois Information Technology Accessibility Act. The vendor must also provide promotional materials in multiple languages, develop youth engagement programs, create public service announcement campaigns, and maintain a marketing repository accessible to local government users. A pre-submission conference is scheduled for April 6, 2026 at 10:30 am, with questions due three weeks after the March 30, 2026 posting date; proposals are due June 1, 2026, with contract execution targeted for July 20, 2026. Evaluation will occur across three independently scored components: Technical Requirements (3,350 points), Commitment to Diversity (670 points), and Price (1,005 points), for a maximum of 5,025 points, with quarterly reporting requirements beginning July 1, 2026.

This procurement is not a small business set-aside, but vendors must comply with the Illinois Business Enterprise Program (BEP) Utilization Plan requiring a 4% subcontracting goal for businesses owned by women, minorities, or persons with disabilities, while a veteran-owned small business subcontracting goal has been waived due to insufficient registered vendors in applicable NIGP codes. All vendors must submit completed financial disclosures, conflicts of interest certifications, and vendor registration documentation; failure to provide any required document renders an offer non-responsive. The incumbent vendor currently serves approximately 6.9 million people across 16 enrolled counties with an interactive database of over 15,000 recyclable materials, and the awarded vendor must transition all existing user data, county enrollment information, and historical survey data from the incumbent without delay. The estimated contract value is $6,000,000 over the ten-year term, though pricing is estimated rather than firm. Vendors must demonstrate commitment to diversity and inclusion initiatives through the Commitment to Diversity evaluation factor, which comprises 20% of the technical score, and must comply with comprehensive State of Illinois standard terms and conditions including IT security requirements, data protection standards, insurance obligations of minimum $1,000,000 general commercial liability per occurrence, prevailing wage compliance, and a minority contractor initiative fee of $15 for contracts exceeding $1,000.